April 15, 2025
Members of Women Leading Philanthropy gathered recently. Founded in 2024, the group raises money to buy equipment and support initiatives specific to women’s health and wellness. Supplied.
Story by Tracy Kennedy
RED DEER — The members of a local women’s fundraising group agree that women’s health can be a bit of a mystery, but they’re hoping their efforts will build knowledge and generate a positive impact.
Founded in spring 2024, Women Leading Philanthropy raises funds to purchase equipment and support initiatives specific to women’s health and wellness — all while learning more and empowering themselves and others.
Group chair Jillian Vukovich, a division director with IG Wealth Management, says they recently learned how differently women’s symptoms can present during a heart attack. They also got a rare, photographic glimpse of the ovaries and uterus.
“Afterwards, many of us walked away and thought to ourselves, ‘I don’t know anything about my body and how it works,’” she says.
“So the more we learn together, the more empowered women are, and the better decisions we can make to support the resources we need in our community for women’s health.”
It's learnings like these that led the group to spotlight the hot topic of menopause and perimenopause at their upcoming Women’s Health Spring Symposium. It’s a subject which is finally sparking open conversations across generations. Tickets for the June 5 symposium, an event open to all at the Sheldon Kennedy Centre of Excellence, are available here.
Empowerment and collective action are the driving force behind the group’s campaign to fundraise for a LUCAS machine for Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre. Valued at $20,000, the mechanical device delivers continuous and consistent chest compressions during a cardiac arrest — even while a patient is undergoing a procedure or in transport.
When a woman joins Women Leading Philanthropy, her $600 annual, tax-deductible donation goes towards equipment, education and events related to women’s health and wellness. Early each year, the group holds a Dragon’s Den kind of event to decide where their funds will go. The donation also covers members’ costs of professional development and supports networking events.
“It’s really about the collective power of women, and about the collective power of fundraising,” says group member Kristin Quinn, donor relations director with Red Deer Regional Health Foundation. “We can support a cause and rally behind each other to influence positive change.”
After helping to found the group, Manon Therriault, CEO of the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation, says that, since the beginning, Women Leading Philanthropy has been about so much more than raising funds.
“It turned into this grouping of women that I have been learning from and developing friendships with and really taking a limitless amount of information away from,” she says.
“So while the intention is to fundraise and to buy equipment, what we are getting out of this as human beings is far greater. I encourage others to do the same and be a part of such a powerful group.”
The group is recruiting new members. See more information about Women Leading Philanthropy and their Women’s Health Spring Symposium coming up in June.
